Monday, 7 May 2012

A Sense of Place

“Favorite Scarf Ever” pattern by
Lisa Bruce

I finished knitting a scarf from my
handspun optim yarn. I started knitting the scarf last winter, but it went into hibernation when warm weather arrived. It's now completed, washed and
blocked and waiting for use, just in time for the coming winter. I
love working at handcrafts at home.

My daughter has been ruminating over
her current essay assignment and this has caused me to reflect on the
implications of Place as a part of Identity. I realise that one of my
motivations for writing Yakkajam and posting photos is to offer a
sense of what it is like to live in this spot, in remote, rural Far
North Queensland, that is, to provide glimpses of our Place - the
flora, fauna, the seasons and our human activities.

My ancestors and J's ancestors
migrated from Europe to the New World - the east coast of the United States - and
then took generations to gradually move west across the United
States. We have continued that restless western movement – across
the Pacific to the east coast of Australia. What happened to our
sense of Place? Perhaps, as eventual roamers, we carry our sense of
Place in our hearts. The place where each of us was born, the places
where we grew up, fell in love, worked and had our children – those
places and the people in our lives helped shape us as have the
stories we've learned about our ancestors. Yet I feel very protective
of and connected to the Place now around me.

The times have influence as well. The
Golden Gate Bridge across the San Francisco Bay remains a magical
Place in my heart. In 1937 my Grandmother and Aunt walked across the
Golden Gate Bridge when it opened for the first time. In 1987, on the
50th anniversary of the opening, my husband and I walked
our bicycles across Golden Gate Bridge only to get stuck in the
middle of the bridge in a shoulder-to-shoulder pedestrian jam that
lasted an hour or so and caused the bridge to sag. If you look at the first two photos to which I've linked, you'll get an impression of the vast
difference between those two times, at the same Place.

Rachael Carson's book Silent Spring was published in
1962 and environmental awareness began to grow. For increasing numbers
of individuals, the boundaries of one's sense of Place began to
expand to include global concerns - oceans, rivers, underground
aquifers, forests and plains, mountains, volcanos, the atmosphere. I
worry when dead fish are discovered in the river nearby after heavy
rainfall caused mining spillage into the nearby creek which flows
into our river. I worry about polar bears.